politics aside, i think you *can* do this to any candidate. anyone who's in the spotlight that much is going to have hundreds of hours of video available, and anyone willing to sit down with the footage will be able to come up with 2 minutes of contradiction.

here's one which i admit is probably out of context, but which illustrates my point:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6Lge-__OOE

I'm an Obama "leaner" but still have a good deal of respect for McCain. What the McCain clip conveys is a man with divided loyalties. On one hand, he needed to avoid giving offense to his party and its leader. On the other, he needed to show voters that he sees a way forward, at home and in the Middle East. Now, as his party's nominee, he is freer to do the latter. Of course, the bobble-heads that have commented earlier don't see this because "politics" and "partisanship" are identical concepts to them. Unfortunately, we all suffer when arrogant certainty rules the day.

You know, if you strung together all of Obama's gaffes in one video, he'd look stupid too.

Speaking of anti-McCain ads, the Obama campaign has released one called the "still" ad which mocks John McCain because he doesn't do e-mail. The reason John McCain can't send e-mail is the same reason he can't raise his arms above his shoulders: injuries he sustained in the Hanoi Hilton. Both candidates have released negative ads, but making fun of McCain's injuries is despicable! How is that a substantive issue? What happened to Obama's promise that he was going to rise above divisive politics?

I'm a rabid consumer of political news, and I had honestly not heard that McCain can't email because of old injuries. Whether it's true or not makes no difference...I'm focused on things like, during a week when the economy of the entire nation almost collapsed, McCain stated that the fundamentals of our economy are strong. Or his picking of a running mate who thinks that being able to see Russia from Alaska qualifies her for international diplomacy.

I've spent months all over Europe and Croatia, even. Maybe I should see if I can be Secretary of State. It seems I'm qualified.

i'll vote for you, penny. i don't even know you and i trust your judgment more than McCant and his pretty ploy.

and mccaine can't email because he had not used the internet at all before about two months ago. he apparently had trouble understanding the yahoo search engine... but then joe biden is a supporter of net neutrality. you gotta pick your battles, i guess.

"McCain gets emotional at the mention of military families needing food stamps or veterans lacking health care. The outrage comes from inside: McCain's severe war injuries prevent him from combing his hair, typing on a keyboard, or tying his shoes. Friends marvel at McCain's encyclopedic knowledge of sports. He's an avid fan - Ted Williams is his hero - but he can't raise his arm above his shoulder to throw a baseball." You guys are right. This shouldn't be an issue. So why is the Obama campaign ridiculing John McCain's injuries?

"The fundamentals of our economy are strong." Penny, we are the richest nation in the world. The fundamentals are strong. That doesn't mean that nobody is having financial difficulty. When John McCain was talking about the fundamentals, he was talking about small businesses.

As for his pick of Sarah Palin, John McCain himself is strong on foreign policy. A lot has been said about how McCain's weakness is domestic issues, like the economy. Well, Palin knows a lot about energy and the economy. They complement each other. Palin would gain plenty of on-the-job experience as VP, which would prepare her IF John McCain should pass away. When Obama is getting his on-the-job experience, he will be the one making the decisions, not Biden.

Wow, according to John McCain, he backtracked and insisted that "fundamentals" referred to AMERICAN WORKERS. Get your talking point straight.

The reality is that this nation's entire economy is on the verge of total collapse. If it were not, the government would not be stepping in with the largest bailouts in history. And since I do read the actual news (not just the approved phrase du jour from the GOP), I'll offer this:

>>>The Bush administration asked Congress on Saturday for the power to buy $700 billion in toxic assets clogging the financial system and threatening the economy as negotiations began on the largest bailout since the Great Depression.

The rescue plan would give Washington broad authority to purchase bad mortgage-related assets from U.S. financial institutions for the next two years.

The proposal is a mere three pages long, but it gives sweeping powers to the government to dispense gigantic sums of taxpayer dollars in a program that would be SHELTERED FROM COURT REVIEW.

The Bush administration is asking Congress for $700 billion to buy troubled mortgage related assets from U.S. financial institutions. According to a draft obtained Saturday by The Associated Press, the proposal would:

-Give the treasury secretary broad authority to buy up to $700 billion in mortgage-related assets from any financial institution in the United States.

-Raise the $10.6 trillion statutory limit on the national debt to $11.3 trillion.

-Allow the treasury secretary to buy, hold and sell the assets in ANY WAY HE SEES FIT . That includes the ability to go outside normal government contracting practices TO HIRE PRIVATE COMPANIES TO MANAGE THEM.

-GIVE THE GOVERNMENT POWER TO DESIGNATE FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS AS "FINANCIAL AGENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT" AND REQUIRE THEM TO CARRY OUT ANY "REASONABLE DUTIES" THAT ENTAILS.

-Require the government to report to congressional budget, tax-writing and financial services committees within three months of using the authority and every six months thereafter.

-Instruct the treasury secretary to consider both providing market stability and protecting taxpayers in using the bailout power.

-Expire two years after enactment.>>>

Emphasis mine, obviously. Oh, and I'm sure it will "expire" the same way the USA PATRIOT Act "expired".

More taxpayer money to bail out more failures, and boy howdy, more secrecy, more of a power-grab by the government, less oversight and more dictates on how we're supposed to live! It's the gift that keeps on giving!

I am wondering, Josh, if you're under the age of 40, why you haven't signed up to go fight in Iraq. You seem like a huge proponent of what the GOP has foisted upon the world. I'm wondering why you haven't put your butt where your mouth is.

The connections between Demcorats and the housing mess are significant, and being overlooked.

Former Fannie Mae CEO Franklin Raines (who left the company after using accounting voodoo to line his pockets with undeserved bonuses) worked for the Clinton administration. He’s also advised the Obama campaign.

The majority of the political money Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have given to politicians has gone to Democrats, with Senators Chris Dodd, Barack Obama and John Kerry topping the list.

It has been liberals, and not conservatives, who have in the past demanded that mortgage lenders be forced to loan to subprime borrowers. Jimmy Carter signed the Community Redevelopment Act into law, and Bill Clinton amplified that legislation creating the market for subprime loans that is causing all of these problems now.

If government, at the behest of liberals, had kept their noses out of the mortgage industry from the start these companies that are suffering now would have long since failed due to poor businesses practices, and we wouldn’t be facing the problems we’re facing now.

The rest of what you wrote...I'll admit that I'll need to do my homework about it. ;-) I do know that Jimmy Carter put solar panels on the White House which were taken down by Reagan...it's pretty easy to argue that BOTH sides have done a lot of stupid things.

My main fear about this $700 Billion dollar bailout is not just the staggering amount of money, but the secrecy attached to it. And the Bush White House isn't even trying to sneak it in anymore: They've stated baldly that they want it to be free of court review. And this: "Give the government power to designate financial institutions as 'financial agents of the government' and require them to carry out and 'reasonable duties' that entails," scares the living shit out of me. It's eminent domain on STEROIDS. It's scary, scary stuff. Not too many people seem to be too concerned, which scares me most of all.

If Obama is so smart about the economy, why is he so hesitant to suspend his campaign and join John McCain in a bipartisan effort to rewrite this monstrosity bill which would spend billions of taxpayer money rescuing Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae?

As Obama has said, the President needs to be able to handle more than one crisis at a time. This is a stall tactic from the McCain camp, nothing more. I also fully expect McCain et al to try to cancel the VP debate next week. Draw your own conclusions on why they don't want an open and honest dialog. I know I have.

I'm sick of your personal attacks. They don't diminish the validity of my arguments in any way.

John McCain asked Obama to attend 10 townhall debates with him and Obama refused.

If Obama thinks we need to handle one crisis at a time, why not handle this one? If we're really at the verge of the next Great Depression, and if Obama can do something, shouldn't he be willing to stop talking about what he'll do and actually do it?

Only time will tell what happens at the VP debate. I don't think Palin has any reason to fear Biden. Every time Biden has shown up in the news, it's because he's made a bad gaffe. Just recently, he forgot that Herbert Hoover was President during the last depression, and that they didn't have television back then. Do you really want a man like this just a heart beat away from the Presidency?

In the words of Simon Rosenberg, "I have no doubt this new crazy idea to 'suspend the campaign' came because the McCain campaign was desperate to break an increasingly vicious news and public opinion cycle. There simply is no precedent for this. Presidential candidates did not suspend their campaigns during the Civil War, the Great Depression, WWII, the Cold War and the Vietnam War. Lincoln. FDR. Kennedy, Nixon. They stood, debated, made their case. Why can't McCain do the same? This feels so craven, so political, so full of cowardice and fear that it says a great deal about the man who wants to be our next President."

Oh, and if you let me know your area code I'll find a Marine Recruitment Center for you to visit. Gotta get that paperwork going, champ.